Then They Were Four
The IPL’s group games have finally come to an end , as teams have given their all over 14 games and many months. The final four ending up on top were Chennai , Delhi , Bangalore , and Kolkata . The table was tight knit in the middle , Mumbai missed qualification by only .471 NRR or net run rate . Truly a pity .It all came down on the final match between Hyderabad and Mumbai . More tense than Hyderabad , who were dead last , were Kolkata fans , whose fate rested in the orange team .
Batting first , Mumbai Indians tried to hit as much as they can , with Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav playing arguably their best ever this year , scoring 80 a piece to get the total to a mammoth 235 . Hyderabad just needed to score 65 to knock out the defending champions , whichh they promptly did in 6 overs .
One might expect dejected and resigned faces all round , but the players of Mumbai kept brave face , and tried to end the tournament in a convincing win . Hyderabad were cruising at 64/0 , just having knocked out Mumbai from the tournament . Ironically this was the moment Mumbai bowlers buckled up . Taking consecutive wickets in the middle overs and trying to restrict the runs , it was truly a valiant effort. Only a late push from Priyam Garg ( 29 ) and Manish Pandey’s defiant half century managed to get them to 193 , a score enough to win almost all matches this year , except to still fall short by a massive 42 runs against Mumbai .
If anything this match taught us , it’s the resilience teams can develop in tough situations . Mumbai knew they had to win by a margin of 170 runs , a never done before feat , and they came in with guns blazing . When the last ball of the first innings was bowled , it would not have been foolhardy to pray that Mumbai qualify . But credit’s due where it is due . Openers Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma were enough to end their run .
But more broadly , the whole IPL till now has been a rollercoaster , both because of the coronavirus and the games itself . Close games , brilliant strategy and superb displays of cricket all round defined this year . I hope the final games are as exciting as the whole year preceding it . Have a nice week .